Review written by Glenn “Terra Shredder” Van Bockstaele.

Suicide Silence is an American deathcore band formed in 2000. 7 years later they released their positively received debut album “The Cleansing,” which they improved upon 2 years later with “No Time To Bleed” and finally in 2011 they released their masterpiece “The Black Crown.” However, the band suffered a huge tragedy in 2012 when their beloved vocalist Mitch Lucker died from injuries suffered from a serious motorcycle accident. This loss caused Suicide Silence much grief but they continued with new vocalist Hernan “Eddie” Hermida (from All Shall Perish). And after the solid 2014 album “You Can’t Stop Me” and their disappointing 2017 self-titled release, the band has now returned to form with their sixth full-length, “Become the Hunter.”

“Become the Hunter” is released through Nuclear Blast Records and sent to us by our friendly German promoter All Noir. It begins with “Meltdown,” a short intro that introduces you to the sound of “Become the Hunter,” raw, aggressive and menacing. And then Suicide Silence comes out in full force with “Two Steps,” a combination of thunderous riffs, grunts & screams, blast beats, occasional cool downs and a soaring guitar solo to finish it off. Things get very groovy with “Feel Alive” wherein the song’s chorus has the typically Suicide Silence, “never say die” vibe. The band speeds up again with “Love Me to Death,” and in this particular track Suicide Silence showcases their more melodic style with great riffs backed up by throat-ripping vocals. A scorching hot tune!

Suicide Silence’s hardcore traits return in the next tracks, “In Hiding” and “Death’s Anxiety” but both songs still showcase some melody underneath all their relentless roaring and blast beats. “Skin Tight” is a slow and more intimate song, reminiscent of their 3-year old eponymous album but without the experimental bullshit or clean vocals. Instead, “Skin Tight” shows a more vulnerable side of Suicide Silence. Then the galloping beats of “The Scythe” arrive, a song that also features some lengthy, beautiful guitar solos.

“Serene Obscene” begins with ambient sounds and acoustic guitar and then goes back to a more melodic groove as well as having a short, clean monologue. Then comes the raging “Disaster Valley,” another skull grind of a track and finally there’s Become the Hunter’s title track, with a guest appearance from Spite’s frontman Darius Tehrani and his more natural vocals provide a great contrast to Eddie’s gutturals and screams. Aside from that, the title track is one last, powerful taste of Suicide Silence’s meticulously mixture of melodic guitars with extreme vocals and drilling drums.

As a longtime Suicide Silence fan, I’m proud to tell you that the band’s back in full force! They’ve cut out all the unnecessary fat and gimmicks that had plagued their previous album and have brought their sound back to its absolute essence. Nothing more and certainly nothing less! “Two Steps” forward!

85/100